First Lady: 2012 ‘Will Determine Nothing Less Than What Kind of World We’ll be Leaving for Our Children’

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama arrive on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Dec. 14, 2011. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, File)

(CNSNews.com) – Urging support for her husband’s re-election, First Lady Michelle Obama told a campaign event Monday evening that the “kind of world we’ll be leaving for our children” was at stake.

“[W]hether it’s health care or the economy, whether it’s education or foreign policy, the choice we make will determine nothing less than what kind of world we’ll be leaving for our children,” she told an Obama for America bowling fundraiser at New York’s Chelsea Piers complex.

“In the end, it really boils down to one simple question: Will we continue all the change we’ve begun and the progress we’ve made? Or will we allow everything we’ve fought for to just slip away? But that is the choice we face.”

The first lady described President Obama, sitting up late at night reading letters from struggling Americans.

“The letter from the woman dying of cancer whose insurance company won’t cover her care. Or the letter from the father struggling to pay his family’s bills. The letters from far too many young people with so much promise, but so few opportunities. And I hear the passion and determination in his voice. He says, ‘Michelle, it’s not right. We have got to fix this. We have so much more work to do.’

“Well, that’s what he carries with him every single day – it is our collection of struggles and hopes and dreams,” Mrs. Obama said. “And that’s why, even in the hardest moments, when it seems like all is lost, Barack Obama never loses sight of the end goal. He never gets caught up in the chatter and the noise. He just keeps moving forward. He just keeps fighting for our children and for our future.”

Monday’s event, a fundraiser for the Obama Victory Fund 2012, offered guests VIP status, including bowling and a photo with the first lady for $5,000.

Guests wanting to bowl were charged $250 and tickets for watching were priced at $150.